World faces new nuclear arms race, researchers warn

This picture taken on April 22, 2021 shows a view of a road sign directing towards the city of Dimona, close to the nuclear power plant in the southern Israeli Negev desert. (AFP)
This picture taken on April 22, 2021 shows a view of a road sign directing towards the city of Dimona, close to the nuclear power plant in the southern Israeli Negev desert. (AFP)
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Updated 16 June 2025
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World faces new nuclear arms race, researchers warn

World faces new nuclear arms race, researchers warn
  • Israel — which does not acknowledge its nuclear weapons — is also believed to be modernizing its arsenal, which SIPRI estimated was about 90 warheads at the start of the year
  • SIPRI counted a total of 12,241 warheads in January 2025, of which 9,614 were in stockpiles for potential use

STOCKHOLM: Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, researchers warned Monday.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said nuclear powers including the United States and Russia — which account for around 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions.”
Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads.
But SIPRI warned that the trend was likely to be reversed in the coming years.
“What we see now, first of all, is that the number of operational nuclear warheads is beginning to increase,” SIPRI Director Dan Smith told AFP.
This was especially the case with China, which SIPRI said had about 600 nuclear warheads and had added 100 new warheads in 2023 and 2024.
“China is increasing its nuclear force steadily,” Smith said, adding that the country could reach 1,000 warheads in seven or eight years.
While that would still be well short of Russian and US arsenals it would make China “a much bigger player,” said Smith.
He said the world faced new threats “at a particularly dangerous and unstable moment” for geopolitics, adding: “We see the warning signs of a new nuclear arms race coming.”

SIPRI counted a total of 12,241 warheads in January 2025, of which 9,614 were in stockpiles for potential use.
The institute noted in its report that both Russia and the United States had “extensive programs under way to modernize and replace their nuclear warheads.”
The United Kingdom was not believed to have increased its number of warheads in 2024, but SIPRI said that given the country’s 2021 decision to raise its limit on the number of warheads from 225 to 260, it was likely to increase in the future.
Similarly, while France’s arsenal was believed to have remained steady at around 290, “its nuclear modernization program progressed during 2024.”
India and Pakistan both “continued to develop new types of nuclear weapon delivery systems in 2024.”
India had a “growing stockpile” of about 180 nuclear weapons at the start of 2025, the institute said, while Pakistan’s arsenal remained steady at about 170 warheads.

SIPRI also noted that North Korea’s nuclear weapons program remained “central to its national security strategy,” estimating that it had around 50 warheads and was believed to possess “enough fissile material to reach a total of up to 90 warheads.”
Israel — which does not acknowledge its nuclear weapons — is also believed to be modernizing its arsenal, which SIPRI estimated was about 90 warheads at the start of the year.
Smith stressed that the looming nuclear arms race would not just be about “the numbers of warheads.”
“It’s an arms race which is going to be highly technological,” Smith said.
He added that it would be both in “outer space and in cyberspace” as the software directing and guiding nuclear weapons would be an area of competition.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence will also likely begin to play a part, at first as a complement to humans.
“The next step would be moving toward full automation. That is a step that must never be taken,” Smith said.
“If our prospects of being free of the danger of nuclear war were to be left in the hands of an artificial intelligence, I think that then we would be close to the doomsday scenarios.”
 

 


Two die in France of ‘heat-related illness’: minister

Two die in France of ‘heat-related illness’: minister
Updated 02 July 2025
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Two die in France of ‘heat-related illness’: minister

Two die in France of ‘heat-related illness’: minister

PARIS: Two people died in France as a result of “heat-related illness,” said the minister for ecological transition on Wednesday, as the country registered its second-hottest June since records began in 1900.
“More than 300 people have been treated by firefighters and two have died as a result of heat-related illness,” said Agnes Pannier-Runacher.


African Union helicopter crashes in Somali capital

African Union helicopter crashes in Somali capital
Updated 02 July 2025
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African Union helicopter crashes in Somali capital

African Union helicopter crashes in Somali capital
  • The helicopter was carrying eight personnel when it crashed during landing

MOGADISHU: A military helicopter from the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia crashed at the airport in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday and was engulfed in flames, the state-run SONNA news outlet reported.

The helicopter from the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) was carrying eight personnel when it crashed during landing, SONNA said on its X account, adding that the fire had been contained.

It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties. An AUSSOM spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

“We heard the blast and saw smoke and flames over a helicopter,” Farah Abdulle, who works at the airport, told Reuters.

“The smoke entirely covered the helicopter.”

AUSSOM has more than 11,000 personnel in Somalia to help the country’s military counter Islamist group Al-Shabab.

The Al-Qaeda affiliate has been fighting for nearly two decades to topple Somalia’s internationally-recognized government and establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of sharia law.


Fiji says China military base not welcome as Pacific islands steer between superpowers

Fiji says China military base not welcome as Pacific islands steer between superpowers
Updated 02 July 2025
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Fiji says China military base not welcome as Pacific islands steer between superpowers

Fiji says China military base not welcome as Pacific islands steer between superpowers
  • Strategically placed between the United States and Asia, the Pacific Islands are a focus of rivalry between Washington and Beijing

SYDNEY: Fiji is opposed to China setting up a military base in the Pacific Islands, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday, adding that it did not need such a base to project power, as shown by an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Strategically placed between the United States and Asia, the Pacific Islands are a focus of rivalry between Washington and Beijing for security ties.

The islands were trying to cope with a big, powerful China seeking to spread its influence, Rabuka told the National Press Club in the Australian capital, adding that Beijing understood he would lobby other Pacific leaders against such a base.

“Pacific leaders in all their recent discussions have tried to go for policies that are friendly to all and enemies to none — and it is a fairly tough course to steer, but it is possible,” he added.

The Pacific would feel the impact of any conflict over the Taiwan Strait between major powers, a possibility already being planned for by China and other nations, he said.

Fiji opposes establishment of a military base by China, he said, in response to queries on Beijing’s security ambitions in a region where it already has a security pact with the Solomon Islands and a police presence in several nations.

“If they want to come, who would welcome them?” he said. “Not Fiji.”

China’s embassy in Fiji did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Beijing has previously ruled out establishing a military base in the Solomon Islands.

China did not need a base to project power, Rabuka added, as Beijing tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in September that flew over Fiji to land in international waters.

China showed off its coast guard to 10 visiting leaders of Pacific islands in May, after registering two dozen of its vessels with a regional fisheries commission last year, though it has yet to start South Pacific patrols.

China’s coast guard would need to “observe our sovereignty, our sovereign waters,” Rabuka said.

Fiji’s cooperation with China to develop infrastructure should not affect how it interacts with Australia, New Zealand and the United States, he added.

To manage strategic competition in the region, Rabuka is trying to build support for an Ocean of Peace treaty to ensure outsiders respect its unity and the “rejection of coercion as a means to achieve security, economic or political advantage.”

Leaders of the 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum will consider the pact at a meeting in September.


Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports

Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports
Updated 02 July 2025
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Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports

Russia says certain forces are out to wreck ties between it and Azerbaijan, RIA reports
  • RIA cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying it regarded its relationship with Baku as extremely important

MOSCOW: The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that certain forces were trying to wreck Moscow’s ties with Azerbaijan and that they should think hard about what they were doing, the state RIA news agency reported.

The statement came amid rising tensions between the two countries after two Russian state journalists were arrested in Baku and a further around 15 more Russians arrested separately on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime.

The arrests followed Russian police raids against ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Russia suspected of involvement in serious crimes in which two men died.

RIA cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying it regarded its relationship with Baku as extremely important and that it believed the arrest of the Russian journalists was not connected to their work but motivated by other considerations.

The pair have since been charged with fraud and other crimes by a Baku court.


Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says

Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says
Updated 02 July 2025
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Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says

Fire that led to Heathrow shutdown caused by substation component failure, energy operator says
  • The closure of Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, on March 21 cost airlines tens of millions of pounds and stranded thousands of passengers

LONDON: The fire that caused a hugely disruptive shutdown at Heathrow airport in March was likely caused by the failure of a component at an electricity substation, Britain’s National Energy System Operator said in a report on the incident on Wednesday.
The closure of Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, on March 21 cost airlines tens of millions of pounds and stranded thousands of passengers. It also raised questions about the resilience of Britain’s infrastructure.
“This review has seen evidence that a catastrophic failure on one of the transformer’s high voltage bushings at National Grid Electricity Transmission’s 275kV substation caused the transformer to catch fire,” the report by the National Energy System Operator said.
“This was most likely caused by moisture entering the bushing, causing an electrical fault.”
National Grid Electricity Transmission’s controls in place were not effective and failed to identify that action had not been taken in relation to an elevated moisture reading in 2018, the report said, adding that the issue went unaddressed.